Elevator Pitch

As I mentioned at the end of the preceding article, I started Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger series, “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” challenge. My immediate goal is not to monetize Kestrel’s Aerie (despite the ad cooperative I belong to, whose ads are featured above the sidebars, or my status as an affiliate with Thesis from DIYThemes). ¹

However, I do want to make mine a better blog. What do I mean by “better”? Obviously, I want to drive up readership (and RSS subscriber numbers). Would I like to make money from the blog? Sure, but I don’t have to—which may mitigate against my doing so. But I also want the Aerie to be more readable,² to be more informative, and to be more interactive.

Hence, I’m taking steps to “Build a Better Blog.” It’s going to be interesting to see how well I succeed.

Assignment #1: The Elevator Pitch

Darren describes an elevator pitch thusly:

“An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds or 100-150 words).” – Wikipedia

Many business and self improvement type courses teach students to develop an elevator pitch for their business (and even for themselves). The idea is to have something short and sharp that you can say about yourself when the opportunity arises instead of bumbling your way through explaining what you or your business does (and miss an opportunity).

The goal is both to communicate what you do and to get the person you’re communicating it to to want to know more.

My elevator pitch is encapsulated in the tag line for this blog: “Kestrel’s Aerie is an eclectic collection of musings for the dedicated WoW player.”

Eclectic, according to Merriam-Webster, means “selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles” or “composed of elements drawn from various sources.”

In the Aerie’s earliest days, I made a regular practice of linking to what I considered to be some of the preceding week’s more insightful WoW blog articles. I also highlighted exceptional WoW blogs, most of which are in my blogroll, and many of which I have identified as “5-Star Blogs.” I periodically reviewed outstanding WoW add-ons (and still do!). In short, I believe I fulfilled the promise of my tagline.

Originally, the line read “…for the casual WoW player.” However, as I became more deeply involved in how to play, joined a raiding guild, then became a guild officer, I realized I wasn’t a casual player anymore. In fact, I don’t think I was ever “casual” if you consider the number of hours I’d play each evening. To me, “dedicated” implies someone who may play a lot of hours per week, but even more, someone who wants to play the game as well as possible. And today, that’s the kind of information I want to present.

Kestrel’s Aerie will never be about theory-crafting: It’s not my thing, and there are other people who have the desire and skill to present such things much better than I ever could. But what I can do, is tell you what really happens in a 25-man raid from the perspective of someone who is still rather amazed at the fact he is even in that raid, not to mention the person in charge of making sure the super-critical healing element is in sync and working at full potential.

I can tell you what happens in “officer chat” as we analyze what went right and what went wrong; I can share the thought process involved in making healer assignments; and I can talk about “just playing the game” when I discuss my non-raiding level 80 alt.

And, as I’ve intimated a few times, I want to expand my coverage to things outside of WoW, especially with respect to blogging. This post, the “31 Days” challenge, and the implementation of a commercial, premium theme, are steps in that direction.

Kestrel’s Aerie: The Elevator Pitch

This is what I want to leave you with: Kestrel’s Aerie is an eclectic collection of articles by a dedicated WoW player, written for the general WoW audience. I’m enthusiastic about WoW, and I’m enthusiastic about blogging. The WoW blogosphere has mushroomed since I started 20 months ago, and I want to help it grow even more. Kestrel’s Aerie combines my joy of WoW with my joy of blogging, and I want to help you gain more enjoyment for yourself from either, or both, of those passions.